Monday, July 27, 2009

Here Comes the Bride

Saturday my sister in-law and I volunteered for an amazing organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer. Their purpose is to raise money to grant final wishes to Stage 4 breast cancer patients...women who will lose their fight against the disease. Designers, bridal salons and even individual brides donate both new and used dresses to the cause and then they are sold to the brides at discounted prices, generating pure profit for the wishes. An example would be the $3000 dress (brand new!) that was sold for $799.

We showed up at noon, were given badges, some general instructions and let loose. My first bride was a darling girl named Kim, who had no real clue what she wanted and wanted to try on just about everything. When we put on the third dress, I knew her search was over. She walked to the mirror, hey eyes welled up and her hand flew to her mouth. I fluffed her train and grabbed a veil to complete the look. She really started to cry then and couldn't stop looking at herself. She just kept saying "I love it. I just love it." She tried on a few more, but nothing compared to that dress. And when she tried it on for the second time and cried again, she said "I'm done. This is it." It was a thrill for me to know that I had helped her find an integral part of her special day.

When my sister in law and I had first arrived we had spotted among the dresses a true Cinderella style ball gown. It was gorgeous, a not quite white with silver encrusted jewels on the top and the bottom hem, silver clusters placed strategically on on the bodice and bottom of the dress. It was truly fit for a princess, and we even commented on how it looked like it was for a fairytale wedding.

A gal came in and knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted something straight and flowy, kind of sexy, very modern. She tried on a few, but nothing was to her liking. She pulled a couple other gowns of the rack, progressively more traditional, a little bit fancier, a little bit poofier.

And then her volunteer pulled the Cinderella dress. I saw her bring it over and I could not wait to see it on.

It was like the air got sucked out of the room. So perfect was that dress, so beautiful was that bride, that every eye in the place was on her. Her mother was instantly in tears, as was her sister. Then she got to the mirror and took her own breath away. All the color drained from her face and her eyes welled up.

My bride looked at me and said "That's the one. She has that look."

And she did. And it was. She cried all the way to the cash register, all the way to the car I suspect. She was beyond thrilled with her dream gown, far from what she thought she was going to buy, but absolutely perfect nonetheless.

All told that day alone (it was a 3 day event) we raised over $10,000 toward granting wishes. I'm so honored to have been a part of it and would do it again in a hot minute.

If you want to be part of a fun day and a great cause or if you want to donate your wedding gown check out http://www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/ to see if they are coming soon to a city near you. I'll be keeping my eyes open for their return to our area.

DEAL OF THE DAY!!!

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Recipe of the Whenever I Get Around to Changing It.

Crockpot Tapioca Pudding (by request)

Ingredients:

2 quarts of 1% milk (half-gallon)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup small pearl tapioca (The only place I found it was Raley's)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a four quart or larger size crockpot, combine the milk, sugar, and tapioca pearls. Stir well to mix. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours. You are looking for the tapioca to be soft and kind of slimy. The mixture will not be very thick, but that's how it's supposed to be. Even if it is thick, that's ok too.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with the vanilla. Take a 1/2 cup of the hot milk and tapioca mixture and whisk it into the egg bowl. Add another 1/2 cup of the hot milk and tapioca, and whisk that into the eggs, too. Then add yet another. Now you'll have a bowl of yellowy tapioca/egg mix.

Pour the contents of the egg/tapioca mix into the crockpot, and whisk until it is all well mixed.

Cover your crockpot and cook on high for another 30-45 minutes, or until the tapioca is pudding-like in consistency. Unplug and let it sit for about an hour to cool.

Ladle into serving-size bowls and chill in the refrigerator.

Or eat it hot hot hot right out of your crockpot. That's how we do it. So yummy on rainy Fall and Winter days.